Thursday, February 21, 2013

4 More Useful Apps to Automate Your Android Phone

4 More Useful Apps to Automate Your Android Phone

android-automation-introPeople like to automate things in their lives. They have dishwashers, voice mail, auto-replies for their email when they are on vacation, even control a lot of stuff in their house from a single remote control. Why not add some apps to automate  your Android phone functions?

Tasker is one of the most well known and also one of the most complicated apps out there to automate actions on your Android. In light of that, we are going to talk about some other Android apps to automate some of redundant tasks and actions on your phone.

1. Llama

Llama is one of the staff favorites here at MTE.  It is a great low-power way for you to automate some of the functions on your phone. What’s great with Llama is you can keep the battery draining GPS off and still get it to maintain location awareness. Instead of using GPS, Llama use cellphone towers to determine your location. Once you tell Llama where home or work or other location is, you can have applications activate, WiFi turn on, modify ringtones and volumes, screen times and all sorts of different aspects of your phone.

android-automation-llama

A few of the actions require root access like option to reboot your phone automatically, the majority can be used on pretty much all of the devices out there.

Llama

2. Impel

What Impel offers is a catalog of popular Tasks. The Tasks are actions you can automate on your device such as making your phone silent when you have it face down and returning it to the previous state when the device is face up. You can take a look through the catalog and see if any of the pre-made tasks will work for you. Otherwise you can create your own.

android-automation-impel

The only frustration about the free version is that it always redirects you to the Play Store to purchase the Pro version. You can always press the Back button to exit the purchase page and continue to use the free version, just keep in mind that it is going to be a frustrating experience. Once in the Tasks menu, you can view all the available Tasks in the catalog and download the one you need. By pressing the menu icon in the bottom right corner, you can create your own from the step-by-step wizard.

Impel

3. beeZee | Auto Reply SMS

Sending a quick test message is a lot easier than sending an email or making a call to a person. The problem is, some people want a reply right away. When you are working or otherwise engaged, you might not be able to reply in a timely manner. Having an automated reply to incoming text messages will let the sender know you are busy and will get back to them later.

android-automation-beez   ee

The setup is pretty standard. Set up a profile for the event and how long you think you’ll be busy and beeZee does the rest. When someone sends you a message, they will be replied to right away with whatever reply you have set up.

beeZee | Auto Reply SMS

4. AutomateIt

AutomateIt is a full featured app to automate your Android phone. Starting off, you can look in the Rules Market. There are a lot of different pre-made ways to automate actions and apps. For example, shutting off your GPS when Maps closes, or turning off your Wi-Fi when no longer connected to the preferred network.

android-automation-automateit

When creating your own Rules for your phone to follow, you can choose from the list during each step. Start with a Trigger like Pandora starts, you can have the music volume turn up automatically. Or have your device speak something every time your phone boots up.

AutomateIt

Final Words

Automation can be as simple or as complicated as you’d like it to be. Most of the automation apps in the Play Store come with the same functionalities, but some of them are easier to use while others are very complicated. The trick is to find an app(s) that you are comfortable to use. Once you have a feel for how they work, you can quickly setup an automated action for just about anything on your phone.

Do you automate your Android actions? How do you do it?

Image credit: By nicolas.boullosa

No comments:

Post a Comment

//PART 2